Silent as the Grave
by IllaSc
Summary: Fang is always silent, but why? What happened to make him this way? It happened when he was three... when he still had a brother named Thorn... T for violence.


Okay, MYRAH, I know you have a problem with anyone else's Fang remembering ANYTHING, but you'll have to deal with this. Lol, j/k. But this is a bit more specific- a specific event which made him so quiet. You'll have to see.

Ahhh! I'm churning out all this angst! Don't know how you deal with me. Anyway, here's the story.

Oh yeah- this is a bit AU. Just pretend Fang's mom wasn't a teenager when she had him, cuz Thorn is eleven when Fang was three.

And this is pretty violent, for me, anyway- just a heads up. And very depressing.

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything in the books. Do own Thorn. Unfortunately for him.**

Dedicated to:

Adam, who reminds me of Fang.

--------------------

"Fang?"

Fang focused on Max. She looked upset.

"Hm?"

"Fang, why don't you ever talk to me?" Her eyebrows were creased.

He sighed and remembered...

-------------------

It had been three months before he met any of the current flock. Picture Fang- long black hair, dark eyes, olive skin- as a cute, bubbly three-year-old.

"Bubbly" was not a typo. Fang had an older brother then, Thorn. Fang idolized him. Being so young, the presence of his brother made Fang's life at the School cheerful, if not easy.

The two were very close, spending every possible moment together. Little did the small boy know that morning as he woke up what lay in store for him. That one day changed his life.

The whitecoats opened his cage with staged smiles. They had an experiment planned for him, Fang knew that much. He crossed his short arms.

"What's going on? Where's Thorn?"

They motioned for him to walk agead of them. Fang managed to get a glimpse of a whitecoat's clipboard as he passed.

_Psycological testing._

The lines didn't make sense to him.

They went outside! Maybe finally he would get to fly. Thorn knew how to fly. He had learned when he was four. He couldn't fly away, though, because there was always a guard of fifty Erasers... with stun guns.

Fang shivered.

But today... wait a minute, what was that? An area of the yard enclosed by six-foot chain link fence? He hadn't seen that before.

As he neared the strange contraption, the whitecoat inside spun around.

Pushed the boy he held by the wrist toward him.

Fang gasped. "Th-Thorn? What's happening?"

The eleven-year-old's jaw was clenched. He was trying to remain brave. For Fang's sake. For his own sake.

"I don't know, Fang."

The whitecoat slapped him. "Don't talk!" He brushed off his hands and exited the cage, motioning for an Eraser to enter. Realization swept through Fang's little body like a hurricane.

"NO!" he screamed, throwing himself against the fence. Another Eraser entered and held Thorn still as the other slowly, cruelly drew his claws across his face. Tears streamed down his cheeks, mingling with the blood.

But Thorn didn't make a sound.

Fang stood and watched in utter horror, eyes wide. The Erasers began to slowly use every form of torture on him they could think of. They plucked his feathers, his beautiful ebony feathers. They sliced him with their claws. They swung him around by his ankles, bashing his head into the fence right in front of Fang.

Finally they dropped him. He fell into a bloody heap, two feet from his brother. Thorn lifted a barely recognizable face and croaked, "I love you, bro. Never forget that."

Fang could only sob.

The Erasers pounced on him. "You're not supposed to talk!" They punched and kicked him mercilessly. A whitecoat raised his hand, effectively stopping them. His order fell like a rock.

"Kill him."

Fang rushed closer. "No!" His little arms reached desperately to his adored brother thorugh the holes in the fence. "_THORN!"_

Thorn raised his head one last time. "Be strong." The Eraser drew a gun and pointed it at his head. "Be brave." The thick silence lasted an eternity.

The shot thundered. Thorn shuddered violently and lay still. Fang collapsed in tears. "No... Thorn... no... Thorn..." The whitecoats began dragging him away. "No! Thorn! NOOOO!"

That day changed his life. His personality. Quickly he became silent. Even after meeting Max and Iggy, he didn't open up.

He tried to be like Thorn. Silent under pain. Always brave. Always strong.

He had never told the flock about Thorn. He didn't want to reopen that wound.

Because when Thorn died, something in him died too.

--------------------

"Why, Fang? Can't you tell me anything?" Max was fighting back tears, but so was he. "Why don't you ever talk to me?"

"I don't know," he said weakly, turning away. Two tears escaped his eyes and slipped down his cheeks.

"I don't know."

-----------------

Wow. See, I told you it was depressing. Review, please.


End file.
